My first attempt at making sausage went well, but presentation left a bit to be desired. I had a hard time getting a consistent girth on the links.

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Once I figured out a few details and got the hang of it, the presentation side improved. Don't be afraid of using a lot of water when sliding the casing on the stuffing tube, and using the larger diameter tube definitely works better than the small one I tried with the Andouille. You can also adjust sausage size as you go by adjusting the pressure on the casing as it is metered out during stuffing.

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Here are the final results of a batch of Italian sausage before making into links. Kris and I had a nice dinner of sausage and peppers that evening, along with a lovely Robert Hall Paso Robles Cabernet that someone brought to a prior event (thanks, whoever you are!)

If there's any general lesson learned during this sabbatical, it's that practice really does help make things better. And everybody likes sausage - especially Sadie.

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Tags:

Cooking | Sabbatical